US economy adds 74K jobs, rate falls to 6.7 pct.

CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABERAP Economics Writer

Published 4:45 am, Friday, January 10, 2014

WASHINGTON — U.S. employers added a scant 74,000 jobs in December, the fewest in three years. The disappointing figure ended 2013 on a weak note and raises questions about whether the job market can sustain its recent gains.

Economists cautioned that cold weather likely played a role in the sharp slowdown in hiring. Job gains had averaged 214,000 in the previous four months.

The Labor Department said Friday that the unemployment rate fell from 7 percent in November to 6.7 percent, its lowest level since October 2008. But the drop occurred mostly because many Americans stopped looking for jobs. Once people without jobs stop looking for one, the government no longer counts them as unemployed.

The proportion of people either working or looking for work fell to 62.8 percent, matching a nearly 36-year low. Last month’s expiration of extended unemployment benefits for 1.3 million Americans could accelerate that trend if many of them stop looking for work. They had been required to look for work in order to receive benefits.

The stock market fell in early trading. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 46 points to 16,398 . And the yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.88 percent from 2.97 late Thursday.

It’s unclear whether the sharp hiring slowdown might lead the Federal Reserve to rethink its plan to slow stimulus efforts. The Fed decided last month to pare its monthly bond purchases, which have been designed to lower interest rates to spur borrowing and spending.

“I don’t think the Fed is going to be panicked by this,” said Joel Naroff, president of Naroff Economic Advisors.

Naroff suggested that the 6.7 percent unemployment rate — a drop of more than a full percentage point since 2013 began — will eventually lead many employers to raise wages.

“It doesn’t change what they’re thinking,” Naroff said of the Fed.

Many economists said they would want to see more data before concluding that the economy had lost momentum.

“We stop short of making larger observations based on this number,” said Dan Greenhaus, chief global strategist at brokerage firm BTIG. “The economy, based on any number of other indicators, has been picking up steam of late which makes today’s number..curious.”

Michael Hanson, an economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, estimated that the cold weather lowered hiring by about 75,000 jobs.

It would still be a weak report even if those jobs were added back in, Hanson said. But he cautioned against reading too much into a single month’s jobs report.

“It’s a warning sign that things maybe weren’t as strong as we thought,” Hanson said. But “it’s really hard to make an inference from one number.”

Other economists were also skeptical. Mark Vitner of Wells Fargo noted that several industries reported unusually steep job losses. Accounting and bookkeeping services, for example, lost 24,700 jobs, the most in nearly 11 years.

And performing arts and spectator sports cut 11,600, the most in 2 1/2 years. The movie industry shed 13,700 jobs.

“These are not the areas that tend to sway the employment report,” Vitner said.

Health care cut 6,000 positions, that industry’s first monthly cut in 10 years. It could raise questions about the effect of President Barack Obama’s health care reform.

Vitner noted that health care layoffs had been announced over the fall and that these figures appear to be “genuine.”

Recent data have painted a picture of an economy on the steady rise. Exports hit a record level in November, lowering the U.S. trade deficit. Businesses have ordered more manufactured goods. Auto sales reached a six-year high in 2013.

Analysts now estimate that the economy expanded at a healthy annual rate of 3 percent to 3.5 percent in the October-December quarter. That’s up from earlier forecasts of a 2 percent rate or less. It would follow a strong 4.1 percent growth rate reported for the July-September quarter.